Genes Linked To Musical Ability

摘要

J. S. Bach's father and uncles were accomplished musicians, Charlie Parker's old man played piano on the vaudeville circuit, Paul McCartney's pop blew the trumpet in a band, and Prince got his name from his dad's jazz trio. Given these and countless other examples, people have often assumed that musical talent runs in families. Now a study of 15 Finnish families, published in the Journal of Medical Genetics, provides the first proof that musical ability is indeed linked to genes. Medical geneticist Irma Jaervela of the University of Helsinki and her colleagues analyzed 224 family members who either were themselves, or were related to, professional musicians or active amateurs. The subjects were given standard tests of musical aptitude, such as the ability to discern differences in the pitch or duration of two tones. Jarvela found an overall heritability of nearly 50 percent. That is, nature rather than nurture accounted for almost half the observed differences in aptitude, helping explain why some subjects with no musical training scored at a professional level.